


kava

by rories



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 22:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15519750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/pseuds/rories
Summary: Lucy has walked the same route to work for the entire time she’s worked for the university. It brings her past the dry cleaners, the Kinkos, and a building that’s been a few things over the years.  And then, one day, she passes by, and the smell of sugar and coffee wafts from the open door.





	kava

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AVirtoMusae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVirtoMusae/gifts).



> prompt: Coffee shop or university au with Garcy, Riya, and Dichelle
> 
> sorry there's no dichelle and only a brief mention of riya!! this is pretty early relationship, but i hope to one day continue it, if that is the will of the people. still, i hope you enjoy it!

Lucy has walked the same route to work for the entire time she’s worked for the university. It brings her past the dry cleaners, the Kinkos, and a building that’s been a few things over the years. At one point it was a used bookstore until the university had pushed them out. For a few years it was a boutique, catering to incoming freshman who were trying to make their dorm rooms feel more at home. 

That had closed in May after a large liquidation sale that Lucy had taken advantage of. The building had sat empty for the summer, but as Lucy passes by it today, she can see contractors working hard to patch holes and run wiring. She wonders briefly what’s moving in next, but she has no time to dwell on it, and such, puts it out of her mind. 

Until the week before school was to start. She’s grown use to walking by a closed shop, watching it turn into what looks to her like a coffee shop. And then, one day, she passes by, and the smell of sugar and coffee wafts from the open door. Lucy sneaks a glance at her watch and makes the split second decision that she has enough time to stop in for a quick cup. Besides, she does like to support local businesses. 

She steps in quickly, deeper into the coffee infused interior. She takes a moment to look around and is pretty impressed by how nice everything looks. The owner clearly knows how to use the space they were given because the wide front windows are clear and everything is lit up. 

The walls are a light gray and all the furniture is a warm wood. There’s a good balance of tables and comfy looking chairs and a few stools pressed up against a bar. Pops of color show up in the pillows on the furniture and artwork on the wall. Lucy thinks there is obviously a lot of love put into the place. 

There’s not a lot of people in the shop, but with how open everything is, Lucy has a feeling this will be the quietest the shop will ever ben. In a few weeks, this place will be packed to the brim with sleep deprived college students. 

Lucy steps further into the shop, her eyes glancing around before finally falling on the chalkboard menu above the counter. There’s the standard fare of coffee drinks like the house roast and lattes, but Lucy can also see some words she’s not entirely sure how to pronounce. Thankfully, whoever has written out the board has also included brief descriptions of the drinks themselves. 

She looks it over quickly before deciding on bijela kava and looking for someone to take her order. With the door open, there had been no chime to announce her presence and since she is the only customer, there had been no one in the front. But there is a small bell on the counter that she quickly taps, the sharp bell sounding throughout the whole shop.

Lucy’s not sure what she expected of the owner of a coffee shop named Perkatory, but the gentleman who steps out from the back is not it. She feels a flush come to her cheeks and her throat goes dry when he gets the counter and greets her. His voice is low and gravelly and she can hear an accent when he speaks. His dark hair and dark eyes are striking and she can’t keep her gaze from travelling the planes of his cheeks and the strong line of his nose. 

He’s tall, so she has to look up at him, even with the counter between them. The apron he has tied around him is a touch to small and it brings a small smirk to her lips. 

“Hi,” Lucy says, finally realizing that he’s spoken to her. The flush on her cheeks gets deeper, but the man in front of her just smiles. It lights up the room. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” the man asks and Lucy can see his name tag just says Flynn on it. 

Lucy swallows again before clearing her throat and finally ordering. She tries not to stare when he turns to make her drink, but she can’t help her eyes travelling down his form. 

It doesn’t take long to make her drink and before she knows it, it’s being handed to her in dark grey cup, the picture of a reaper holding a scythe on the side of it. The barista smiles at her as she takes a sip and she returns it when the warmth spreads through her body. 

She’s quick to pay after that and even though she doesn’t want to leave just yet, wants to stay in this warm and inviting environment, she has to get to her office. She gives one last glance and soft smile to Flynn and heads to the door. She has to hold herself back from turning back to see if he’s watching her leave.

He is. 

*****

Lucy goes back to the coffee shop the next day. And the day after that. And every day that week. By the end of the week, she’s gotten to know the man behind the apron and finds herself thinking about him more and more. 

She finds him intriguing, mysterious, even after learning things like his favorite book and how he takes his coffee. And he’s very knowledgeable about history. Which makes a small warmth bloom in the belly, one that returns every time he returns her comments with quick history facts. 

She wishes she could spend more time in the coffee shop, but the start of school means she’s having to spend more time in her office and that more students are taking up the spaces in the coffee shop. After another week, she sees a “Now Hiring” sign and it’s not long after that two new faces show up. 

Rufus and Jiya are two engineering grad students that work under Dr. Mason, who Lucy only knows by reputation, but they help pick up the slack in the shop and Lucy is grateful for them if only because it allows her to spend more time talking with Flynn. 

Lucy only gets a few minutes a day to talk to him, but in that time, she and Flynn seem to cover all sorts of subjects. She finds out he used to work for the NSA, but won’t tell her what he did there. He tells her where he learned how to make the baked goods he sells along with the coffee. 

In turn, Lucy tells Flynn about her sister and what she wrote her graduate thesis about. She tells him about the famous figures in history that she still gets a thrill learning about. She thinks she should question why she feels so comfortable around this man she just met a few weeks ago. 

And then Flynn smiles and she feels at home. 

*****

Lucy doesn’t visit the coffee shop every day, but it’s close enough. She gets to know Jiya and Rufus and finds herself welcome into the little coffee shop family they seem to make. She convinces Jiya to finally make a move on Rufus and her and Flynn share conspiratory grins when they come in the next day holding hands. 

She enjoys her time getting to know Flynn and the shop, tries new drinks every day, and becomes Flynn’s unofficial drink tester when he wants to try something new. She is content in her life, but she starts to wonder if maybe there could be something more. 

Lucy is no stranger to flirting and she can’t ignore the looks she sometimes catches Flynn making. But she’s scared to disrupt the status quo, not when she’s got such a great thing going on in the moment. 

It doesn’t stop her from daydreaming about him when she’s sitting in her office after class. It doesn’t stop her from printing out articles she thinks he might like while she’s doing research. It doesn’t stop her from wondering what it might be like if he asked her to dinner. 

Her sister makes fun of her for days when she finally figures it out, but does try to convince Lucy that she should take the plunge. But it’s Jiya who finally sways her decision, throwing words Lucy herself had used on her when trying to convince Jiya to ask out Rufus. 

It takes her a few days to work up the courage and she avoids the shop for those days, but finally, she misses it, misses him, too much. The morning she finally returns is turning cold and the shop looks more inviting than ever. The chime over the door rings when she steps in and Rufus and Jiya greet her loudly and happily. 

Flynn doesn’t seem to be around and Lucy feels a heavy weight of disappointment settle in her. She tries to shake it off, tries to smile at Rufus and Jiya, but she can’t even bring herself to order something. She spins for the door and immediately bumps into a body, her hands coming up to catch herself against a chest. 

Lucy doesn’t have to look up to know that it’s him, has gotten to know his form and scent over the last few weeks, and her breath catches in her throat. His hands, big enough to wrap around hers, grip her upper arms to keep her from falling backwards. He says her name, soft and quiet, and it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever heard. 

Flynn tells her he just came from campus, that he’d been looking for her because he’d been worried after not seeing her for a few days. She smiles up at him, a whole head shorter, and that feeling that’s settled in her stomach since she met him bursts into warmth when he smiles back. 

It’s like everything finally clicks into place. She’s finally where she’s meant to be and she can’t help the small laugh that she huffs out, goosebumps on her flesh when she realizes that he’s rubbing his fingers on her shoulders. She realizes that this moment is The Moment and blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind.

“Do you wanna grab a coffee with me?”

Flynn’s grin gets wider and lights up the room and she feels the flush on her cheek when she realizes what she just asked. But he just laughs and tilts his head toward her and she only has a moment to realize what’s happening before he’s whispering “yes” against her lips. 

He tastes like coffee and sugar and sunlight. She never wants to leave this place.

So she doesn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> and they lived happily ever after!


End file.
